Chad is Chad. You either loved him during his time in Cincinnati or you despise him as everything unholy on this Earth. There's no middle ground, sort of like today's political "discussions". Whereas many will point out that Chad provided Cincinnati with more than your daily Bungals joke, parallel with the ambitious overhaul that rookie head coach Marvin Lewis brought at the time, others will gladly point out many of Chad's selfish moments from personal penalties after touchdowns, threatening to sit out if not traded and his rants to Carson Palmer that's caught on national television -- and the reported Royal Rumble with Hue Jackson that never took place.

Yet during his ten-year career with the Bengals, the artist formerly known as Chad Johnson, practically rewrote most of the franchise's receiving records. Such as:

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Even though he pouted his way to the end of the season last year, the Philadelphia Eagles will reportedly use their franchise tag on unrestricted free agent wide receiver DeSean Jackson according to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer. McLane writes:

They will not let their Pro Bowl receiver - whose contract is set to expire - walk without getting something in return, according to NFL sources. So that means the Eagles will do one of three things before March 5:

• They will franchise Jackson and keep him for the 2012 season.
• They will franchise and then trade him.
• Or they will agree to a contract extension with the 25-year-old, an unlikely proposition at this point

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Former Bengals defensive tackle Clinton McDonald didn't have a place on Cincinnati's 2011 roster. With eight players eventually surviving final cuts on the defensive line, most of whom produced valuable and significant contributions, McDonald became expendable. So the team shipped him to Seattle for cornerback Kelly Jennings, a former 2006 first round selection, in a late-August trade. For his part McDonald, who played 436 defensive snaps for Seattle, proved to be an effective run stopper for a Seahawks defense that played very well against the run in 2011.

Jennings on the other hand struggled.

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The difficulty that the New Orleans Saints are having signing quarterback Drew Brees to a contract could present opportunities for a team like the Cincinnati Bengals, still requiring components to help the team improve their overall talent. Though there's no doubt that Brees will eventually return to New Orleans (think Franchise Tag), the more this process drags out, the less likely New Orleans will be able to keep several of their high profile free agents. Dan Pompei with the National Football Post writes:

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The Cincinnati Bengals will have 20 unrestricted free agents hitting free agency on March 13, with notable defensive names like Reggie Nelson, Jonathan Fanene, Frostee Rucker, Pat Sims, Brandon Johnson and Adam Jones, among others. Now one could easily argue that the team could work the NFL Draft to rebuild the defense, sprinkling offensive genius in the process. But the reality is Cincinnati's defense is approaching a cross-roads that can't be resolved with just the draft.

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The venerable Peter King with Sports Illustrated published his final Monday Morning Quarterback of the football season, including his final-15 of the 2011 NFL season; a ranking of the best 15 teams from his perspective. Obviously the top two teams are going to be the Super Bowl participants from last night with unsurprising Giants claiming first. Moving down the list and you broaden the teams by including those that made the playoffs, with those eliminated later in the postseason generating higher rankings.

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Based on his production in 2011, as well as his strengths as a strong-side linebacker, it would make sense for the Cincinnati Bengals to invite Manny Lawson back for another season. Though he only took part in 529 defensive snaps last year, he generated a tackle every 6.8 snaps, registering 1.5 quarterback sacks and three passes defensed -- the snap/tackle ratio and quarterback sacks generated is better than Thomas Howard. Additionally Lawson scored the third-highest score (8.1) against the run according to Pro Football Focus, best amongst all linebackers. Lawson also finished the season ranked as the defense's third-most productive player behind Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap.

So it's fairly obvious that the Bengals aren't likely to re-sign Lawson, right?

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It's the second quarter and the Cincinnati Bengals have already picked up three first downs on a drive that's already crossed midfield. Andy Dalton hands off to Cedric Benson on third and one but fails to pick up the conversion, losing his balance in the backfield, falling one yard short of the first down (you can actually see it playing out in your mind, can't you?). It's fourth down and Marvin Lewis sends in the punt team to relinquish possession. Say that Cincinnati is snapping the football from their opponents 40-yard line and Kevin Huber accidentally booms a punt deep into the endzone for a touchdown. That's a 20-yard shift, which in the grande scheme of things isn't very advantageous.

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